James Monroe was in the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1774. In 1776 he became an officer in the Continental Army. After the war he studied law. In 1782 he was elected to the Virginia Assembly and in 1783 he was elected to the Continental Congress. He unsuccessfully ran for House of Representatives and was appointed to the US Senate in 1790. He was minister to Britain and France for two years. James Madison appointed Monroe has Secretary of State in 1811 and later as secretary of war

BEFORE THE PRESIDENCY